‘Diet face’ phenomena can affect self esteem says UK’s leading cosmetic surgeon, Ms Angelica Kavouni

Ms Angelica Kavouni FRCS EBOPRAS Cosmetic Surgeon • June 13, 2016

You’ve lost those extra pounds but now feel like you’ve aged 10years – sound familiar? Chubby faces can disguise lines and wrinkles but on slim faces they have nowhere to hide.

Lines-mouth-of-a-middle-aged-woman-546436836_4595x3043.jpg ‘Diet face’ is an issue experienced by many  who have chosen to lose extra weight carried for a number of years

2 main categories of people who suffer from this phenomenon:

  1. FAST WEIGHT LOSS.  Can happen in any age group where those who have carried extra pounds for some time lose weight quickly and their skin, which has stretched to accommodate the extra volume, no longer has extra fatty support.  Gravity takes over pulling loose skin leaving visible folds.  Gradual weight loss gives the skin the time it needs to contract after loss of padding.
  2. COLLAGEN LOSS DUE TO AGEING.  Again, skin has been artificially stretched by fat stores and, no matter how slowly weight loss occurs, the skin has no collagen reserves and is unable to ‘bounce’ back, leaving tell tale loose folds and wrinkles.

It’s widely accepted that during dieting facial fat pads reduce – sadly the same pads that support facial muscles, bulk the cheeks and ultimately keep one looking young and fresh faced.

I see many patients (mainly 40+’s) who have taken control of their bodies and feel great physically only to find they no longer recognise their faces.  Deepened nose to mouth lines, visible marionette lines, heavy forehead frown lines and marked neck lines are all symptoms of ‘diet face’.

Don’t despair! There are many non surgical aesthetic ways to help boost collagen stores (nature’s facial scaffolding) and tighten loosened skin…a word of warning though: hyaluronuc acid fillers are a great way to help support sagging skin and reduce appearances of lines BUT if fat loses are too great then no amount of filling will help (you’ll spend a lot if money for no real gain).

Injectable Sculptra is often used to ‘re-boot’ soft tissue development and can help replace lost volume. Radiofreqency devices can help to shrink skin – we offer Thermage at my medi-spa, but there are other brands on the market.  If you have a great deal of facial ‘wasting’ then surgery may well be an option.

Seek a practitioner you trust and ask for an honest assessment.

 

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